Slow Seduction (16 page)

Brenda Martin Kimball was a migraine waiting to happen with her constant whining about leaving the wonderful comforts of New York for California. She always asked him why they had to move. He had told her several times to stay in New York, but she said “no.” A wife’s place was with her husband.

Throwing his briefcase down in a chair along with his coat, Mark pulled his car keys out of the pocket. He flipped through the keys until he found the one that opened the bottom draw to his desk.

Sticking it into the key slot, he turned it once and the door slid open. Reaching into the very back, he pulled out several letters from the Los Angeles Correctional Facility. Opening the last letter, he sat down in his chair to read his brother’s sharp handwriting.

Dalton Blake was going into his second year of a seven-year prison sentence. He got sentenced to prison after Clinton’s sister in-law testified against him. He remembered True and her two friends entering the courtroom. He had been sitting behind his brother in the courtroom and turned around as the trio sat down in the very last row.

After his brother had been convicted, Mark left his well-paying job in New York and applied for the principal job here. William had met his brother in prison while William was serving his eight-month sentence. They had started talking and realized they had several people in common. A couple of months later he had gotten a letter in the mail from Dalton with this plan, which, Mark had to admit, was a good one. Nobody would ever guess they were brothers.

He had always protected Dalton, and this time would be no different. He heard Jenisha talking outside the courthouse saying how she was so happy True had finally gottn past what Dalton had done to her. His hatred had started for her right then in the hallway.

Closing his eyes, Mark’s mind wandered to the newest problem in his already overworked, complicated life—Robin, his overly needy daughter. She always wanted things she didn’t need like Clinton Campbell. Clinton didn’t want her overly thin body. He would have never known she existed if she hadn’t thrown herself in his face every chance she got.

As much as he didn’t want to, he had to admit that Clinton and Jenisha did make a striking couple. But he needed Robin to keep Clinton occupied while he finished working on his plan to deal with Jenisha. His partners, William and Stephanie Griffin, wanted Clinton gone, so he had two extra people helping with his plan. He had several ideas in his brilliant mind, all of which involved a painful death for Jenisha.

His office was the only place in the entire house that was his. Brenda knew she couldn’t set foot in here with her horrible designers. The rest of the house looked like a nightmare with all the wild patterns and colors. She loved trying everything she saw on those damn reality design shows in their house.

She should never leave her day job. Her style was worse than Robin’s. Neither woman had the sense of style Jenisha did. He hated being so attracted to the woman he wanted revenge against. The Griffins wanted Clinton hurt because he had them sent to jail for a real estate scheme against him and his brother. Shit, they just needed to forget about it and move on. But, no, William Griffin, the idiot he was, came looking for him. Undoing the first couple of buttons on his shirt, Mark relaxed in his black leather chair and listened to the rain pounding on the roof of his overpriced house.

The next morning Jenisha turned up the CD player by Clinton’s enormous pool while he was at work. She had declined on going to the office with him because she wanted to test the pool out instead. Stripping down to her two-pieced red bikini, she dove into the water. She loved swimming. It had to be one of her favorite activities.

Forty-five minutes later she got out of the pool and wrapped a towel around her waist. She laid down on one of the lounge chairs by the pool and picked up the newest historical romance on the best seller list. True had left one at her house a while back and now she was hooked on them.

She had been reading close to an hour when a shadow fell over her. “Who in the hell are you,” a female voice yelled.

Looking up from the book, she was stunned to see a tall, blond, young woman standing a few feet in front of her. She looked to be in her late twenties.

She frowned wondering where in the hell the woman had come from since Clinton’s house had a fence around it. “My name is Jenisha Roman? May I ask who you are?” She didn’t want to flip out on the girl just in case she was someone from Clinton’s office coming to see her.

“I don’t have to answer any questions,” she yelled again. “What are you doing in Clinton’s house?”

“I’m his girlfriend,” Jenisha said standing up.

“Oh my God, you’re one of those crack ,heads aren’t you? Are you looking for a place to come down off of your high?”

Jenisha stuck her hand out to touch the girl on her shoulder. She wanted to help her calm down before she went into a panic attack, but the young woman jumped away from her touch.

“Don’t move,” she screamed, digging her cell phone out of her purse. Waving it in front of her face, she backed away toward the house. “I’m going to call the police.”

She moved closer to the hysterical young woman, but the girl dashed back into the house and she heard the click of the patio doors as she raced behind her.

Thirty minutes later, Jenisha was handcuffed and being led from the house by two uniformed male officers. She couldn’t get over how humiliated she felt as Clinton’s neighbors came out and watched her being taken to the police car in his driveway.

No matter how many times she told them she had a right to be there because Clinton was her boyfriend, the officers didn’t believe the president of Campbell Construction and Design was dating her, an African American woman. She tried one last time to make them understand, but they shoved her toward the police car and asked her if she knew how much time breaking and entering would get her.

Out of the corner of her eye, Jenisha watched through the bay window as another officer comforted the young woman named Terri. How in the hell did this happen to her, she thought, embarrassed as one of the officers opened the back door. She was supposed to be here on vacation to relax and get to know Clinton better, but instead of that she was going downtown for mug shots and fingerprints.

“What in the hell is going on here?” A deep voice demanded behind them as a car door slammed shut.

Spinning around, her heart started to beat faster as she saw Clinton walking away from his black Jaguar with murder in his eyes. She had been strong and held her tears at bay until she saw him. She didn’t want the man she loved to see her like this.

“Nothing to worry about, Mr. Campbell. Your girlfriend came home and found this woman outside by the pool,” the younger officer said. “She immediately ran back in the house and called us.” He flashed a huge smile and looked at his partner so he could continue the story.

“T
hank
God we got her in time because she thinks she’s your girlfriend. We think she’s coming down off a drug high,” the older officer added.

Clinton walked up to Jenisha and touched her tenderly on the face. “Are you okay, baby?” She just looked at him with a blank stare as tears poured down her cheeks. “I advise you to take the handcuffs off my girlfriend, officers,” he said in a deadly calm voice.

A key appeared out of nowhere and the handcuffs were off. He pulled Jenisha’s stiff body to his side before addressing the two cocky cops. “I can promise you the station will hear from me first thing in the morning. Now, you need to clear the rest of these people out of my house,” he yelled.

Five minutes later he was leading a shaken Jenisha back into the house. Sitting her on the couch, he dragged Terri outside by her upper arm. “How in the hell did you get in my house,” he questioned.

“I still have a key,” she said holding it up.

Clinton snatched the key out of her hand and shoved it into his pocket. “Didn’t I tell you it was over months ago? I don’t want to see you again, Terri.” Clinton turned back around and headed toward his house.

“Is it because of that woman inside your house?” she sneered. “What can she give you that I can’t?”

Without stopping his pace, he said, “Love.” Slamming the door, he put Terri into his past and his eyes found the woman that he loved.

He wasn’t surprised to see that Jenisha hadn’t moved. He slowly eased over to her and ran his fingers down her still damp hair. He moved his fingers down to her hands and noticed how cold they were. Sitting on the couch beside her, Clinton wrapped his arms around Jenisha and tried to ease his warmth into her cold body, but she shoved at his chest.

“No, don’t touch me,” Jenisha cried. She moved to the far end of the couch as fresh tears ran down her make-up free face, showing him how much pain she was in.

“Baby, please let me help you,” he pleaded. “I know what pain you must be in.”

Jenisha’s head snapped around to stare at him. “How do you know what I’m feeling? I almost got arrested for being the wrong color at the rich house in the right neighborhood. Do you know what those cops said to me? Can you imagine how that made me feel?” she questioned, breathing hard. “They wouldn’t even allow me to change my clothes.”

She dropped her head into her hands and cried even harder. It was a sound Clinton didn’t want to hear again. It tore at his heart listening to the woman he loved being ripped apart.

He was reaching out to touch her when she bolted up from her seat, “God, I can’t stay here. I need to go home.” She turned, running up the stairs with Clinton close behind her.

In the bedroom, Jenisha opened the closet door and started pulling out her clothes. Clinton wrapped her up in his arm, pulling her tight against his solid body. He rested his face on hers. “No, baby I’m not going to let you leave like this. We still have three days left to spend together.”

She tried to shake him off, but he wouldn’t allow it. He couldn’t get a good hold of her because she kept brushing off his touch. Grabbing her under her arms, Clinton pulled her fully against him. “I want you to listen. What happened downstairs was wrong and if I could erase it I would, but I can’t.”

“Sweetheart, there are going to be some people like Terri and those police officers in the world, and it’s their loss if they allow skin color to stand in the way of love. I won’t let them scare you away from me or our love.”

Determined to find his Jenisha in the shell of a woman, Clinton kissed her and absorbed her aura into his blood. It made him hotter and caused him to deepen the kiss. He flicked his tongue in her mouth and searched for the passion he knew was there just for him. Her kisses were unique as finding a pearl inside an oyster hard to come by, but well worth the time and struggle.

Groaning, Clinton licked her already trembling, swollen full lips, preparing them for another of his deep sensual kisses. Backing her up against the wall, he braced a hand by her head and used his free one to unsnap her bikini top. It fell to the floor in a matter of seconds.

Jenisha was too hot to notice to cool air hitting her bare breasts. Clinton gently kneaded her naked firm breast in his large hand, running his thumb across a hard nipple, making it harder.

Moving his mouth, Clinton nibbled his way down her body until he reached her breasts and took a nipple into his mouth. He sucked on her breasts and picked Jenisha up in his arms.

He laid her on the bed and stripped off her bikini bottom. He sat up to stare at her body from her hair spread out on his pillow, down her long neck, perky breasts, flat smooth stomach to her gorgeous legs. He loved every part of her, especially the birthmark on her hip.

It was shaped like a ripe strawberry. Since he loved strawberries, he leaned down and licked it with his moist tongue.

Jenisha flinched at the sensation. “What are you doing,” she asked.

Clinton looked up at her from his position by her hip. “I wanted to see if it tasted like a strawberry.”

She giggled at his silly comment. Smiling, Clinton brushed her hair off her face. “Sweetheart, I’m going to say something that might surprise you, but I don’t want us to make love. I just want to hold you in my arms.”

Jenisha moved him aside and pulled up the blanket at the foot of the bed to cover up her naked body. “What? Why?”

“Right now I want to hold you in my arms,” he muttered, stroking her silken skin.

She tugged the blanket tighter around her body and brushed a strand of hair away from her mouth. “It’s one o’clock in the afternoon. Don’t you think it’s too early for bed?”

“Baby, are you really telling me you have forgotten about what happened earlier?” Jenisha got off the bed. Moving to the closet, she took out underwear, a top and a pair of jeans, and started to get dressed. “I don’t want to talk about it,” she mumbled.

Clinton sat on the bed, trying to stay calm. If they didn’t talk about Terri and the police, it would still be between them when they got back to Los Angeles. Jenisha sat beside him on the bed and pulled on a pair of shoes. “Jenisha, I know you, baby. I can tell you are still upset about Terri.”

“When were you going to tell me about her having a key?” she questioned him with hurt in her eyes.

Clinton ran his hands down his face. “I had forgotten all about giving her one. It happened a month prior to me taking the job at Bryant. I was so happy to be working with you I forgot about everything else.”

Rolling her eyes, Jenisha took a deep breath and tried to calm down.
Why did he want to discuss this? He just couldn’t leave it alone
. Nothing he said could change the horrible and humiliating experience she went through. He would never feel the same pain as her.

He watched Jenisha walk back and forth in front of him, battling the pain still inside her body. Standing up he said, “Darling, we are a couple now. Whatever pain you feel, I feel too. You don’t have to keep this on the inside. Share with me,” he begged.

“Okay, you want to know what I’m feeling? Let me tell you. I’m pissed off that I got handcuffed because your ex-girlfriend felt threatened by me,” Jenisha told him truthfully. “If it had been the other way around, Terri would never had gotten those damn things put on her.” Clinton knew she was right, but he didn’t say a word.

“God, they wouldn’t even call you. All they did was laugh in my face. Saying how I was going to serve a lot of time for breaking into your home,” Jenisha hissed, still hearing their harsh voices in her head. “If you think talking about it will make it easier, you are wrong,” Jenisha said, shaking her head sadly. “This is something I’ll remember for a long time, Clinton.”

“A person can never prepare themselves for things they have no control over. Today was an event happened I couldn’t control if I wanted to,” she told him. “I just want to stick it in the very back of my mind and move on.” She moved closer to him and kissed him lightly on the lips.

Clinton held her face in his hands, looking deep in the eyes he had come to love. “You don’t blame me?”

Jenisha blinked, stunned at his comment. “Of course I don’t blame you, why would you think that?”

“If I hadn’t dated someone as shallow and insecure as Terri, you wouldn’t have had to experience her hate,” he said.

“Honey, Terri is in our past now. Let her to stay there.”

A relieved smile passed across Clinton’s worried features. “I thought I was going to lose you,” he admitted. Jenisha brushed her body against his, wrapping her arms around his neck. “It will take more than a jealous ex-girlfriend and a few cops to scare me out of your life.”

She smelled his sexy cologne on his neck. “Hmmm…You smell so good. Are you wearing it for me?”

“Gorgeous, everything I do now is for you,” he whispered in her ear.

Jenisha loved feeling Clinton’s warm breath on her earlobe. Pulling his earlobe between her teeth into her mouth, she nibbled and sucked on it, driving Clinton wild.

Closing his eyes, Clinton tried to fight off a rush of desire. “Baby, you need to stop. I have to get back to a meeting. I have a room full of people waiting for me.”

Ignoring him, she pushed his jacket of his wide shoulders. It hit the floor behind them. She undid his tie and threw it onto the chair by the bed. The blue striped shirt was next, missing the chair and hitting the floor. “Jenisha, I’m not kidding. I do have a meeting,” Clinton said.

She smiled at him right before licking his nipples. “Can’t they wait?” she whispered.

Clinton’s body hardened as he picked her up into his arms. “Hell, I’m the boss, they aren’t going to leave,” he said, tossing her on the bed. “They’ll wait until I get there.”